DnDNext (5E) is something I find difficult to write about at the moment. When I read people talking about it I often get the feeling that they are treating this first stage of the public play test as a finished product and that they are wilfully ignoring anything that WotC says that indicates this is …
Tag Archive: dndnext
Monster Block
When the Planescape Monster Manual supplement for 2E came out one of my favorite pictures was the Cat Lord. So for this discussion the Cat Lord is going to be my example. (It’s funny that I’ve looked at it for years and never noticed the shadow…) Planescape is an interesting setting; it and Dark Sun …
WotC Products & Your Setting
If you have been playing RPGs, especially DnD, for a while (or maybe you just started) there is a good chance you have at least considered creating your own setting. I started work on my personal setting back when 2E was the DnD of the day, and through the years it has undergone some permutations …
A World of Culture
Culture is a strange thing. For example it is particularly hard to identify the things that make your culture what it is without having another culture with which to compare it. In DnD campaigns this manifests in cultures becoming homogenous, it is simply easier to have one pervasive culture than to create many unique cultures. …
Trouble Choosing a Game
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about system complexity and player agency during a game as I have struggled to find a game I think both my daughters and I can enjoy fully as a game as well as an experience together. Player Agency When people talk about pre-4E fighters one of the things that …
Art: Epic Inspiration
Continuing with my discussion of art in DnD, this week I am taking a look at art for monsters and not just any old enemies but rather the sorts of epic threats that have been handled so poorly by DnD in the past (4E included). Epic Threats Epic threats need to be just that, epic. …
Art: Environment
Last week when I posted about art that I liked Rich Green asked about landscapes and it is a fair question that deserves a longer response. In visual media such as computer games and movies the environment is a critical element. For fantasy computer games and movies the environment needs to be designed from the …
More on Art
I recently ventured into the DnDNext area of the WotC community and there found a thread advocating essentially for more art by Wayne A Reynolds. Now I’m not an artist, but the truth is I don’t particularly like Mr Reynolds’ art style, the “dungeon punk” thing just doesn’t float my boat, and then there are …
Artful Art
The rules of the game tell us how to play it, but the art of the game tells us what the world of the game looks like and more than that it inspires us. I started playing DnD when Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell and Jeff Easely were the dominant cover artists for products, and interior …
Next for DnD & Daily Encounter
Like most people that have been avidly following 4E for the past 12 months I was not particularly surprised by the announcement of “a new iteration of D&D” by WotC on the 9th Jan. If anything I’m pleased by the possibilities of the public playtest and curious about the forthcoming edition of the game. For …